UK Borders Bill

My Lords, this is the same as the amendment debated in Grand Committee, when it was grouped with an amendment that we tabled on applying PACE to designated immigration officers. We have not retabled that amendment now because we were reasonably satisfied with the Minister’s explanation of how these powers were to be used and with the draft standard operating procedures for designated immigration officers for the BIA that were placed in the Library, which the noble Lord analysed in some detail. However, as he said, the draft indicated that the procedures were to be developed to a greater level of detail in collaboration with the police and other stakeholders. Like him, I was unsuccessful in searching for the final version on the web. If it has not been published, as the noble Lord implied, I should be grateful if the Minister, when he replies, would say when we can expect it. It is unfortunate that we do not have an opportunity to scrutinise it when deciding these matters, and this is probably the last opportunity that we shall get. I have to say in passing that the BIA website is not well designed. I very much hope that if he has not already used it, the Minister will spend a few minutes looking at it and, if he agrees with me, will ask officials whether work is in hand to improve it. Web design for ease of use is particularly crucial when the information being presented is of such great importance to the future prospects of hundreds of thousands of people. The designated officer who detains a person has to issue a written notice explaining the reasons for the detention, using an interpreter where necessary to explain the notice. He must seek the voluntary co-operation of the person being detained, and if reasonable force has to be used, must complete the ““use of force”” log and get it countersigned by the chief immigration officer. He must give particular consideration to the needs of children, vulnerable adults, pregnant women, and others where there is evidence of physical or mental ill health. The draft says that detention of children should occur only in the most exceptional and rare circumstances, which were to be defined in further consultation with the police. It would be helpful if the Minister could tell us what progress has been made on that issue and when the final version will be published. Can we have an assurance that these documents will be available on the BIA website, and although they are not subject to parliamentary scrutiny, will the Government ensure that after a suitable period of operation, they will provide a formal opportunity for the Refugee Children’s Consortium and others to make suggestions for improvements and amendments? One advantage of using non-statutory operating procedures could be the greater flexibility to accommodate outside advice, given the willingness to do so which is not invariably to be found in the Home Office and its agencies. In his letter of 5 July after the first day in Grand Committee, the Minister said that there were regular monthly opportunities for discussion of operational practices regarding children among designated officers with the minors' team, headed by an immigration inspector, at each port of entry, and there is also a border control and young persons working group which feeds issues back to the port and to the BIA's children's task force. These procedures sound thorough, but they are not transparent. How can children's NGOs, or the Children's Commissioner for that matter, be satisfied that, subject to the need to enforce immigration control, the best interests of the child are always observed in these procedures? One point that the Minister did not pick up in that letter was whether the remit of the chief inspector of the BIA would cover the use of the new detention powers, no doubt because the matter was still under review as he mentioned in Committee. Why should there be any reservation on the chief inspector's power to examine the operations of the BIA, any more than there is with other chief inspectors such as those for prisons or probation? Has the Minister any further news on the matter this afternoon, and if it has not yet been decided, can he explain the reasons why these powers might be singled out from all the rest of the BIA's functions as closed to scrutiny by the chief inspector?